RULE G-42 UPDATE. Rule G-42 has been withdrawn. Bond Buyer has more here. “The board’s move comes amid criticism among market participants that the MSRB had floated several rule proposals for comment, and then filed some of them with the SEC, before the commission adopted a final muni advisor-registration scheme and definition.”
MISSING CAMPAIGN FUNDS. Politico. “But what’s remarkable about the Durkee case is how common such scandals have become in today’s Big Money politics. Just in the past few years, treasurers for congressional campaigns have been found to have illegally used campaign dough for everything from Boston Red Sox season tickets to paying their kids’ college tuition to casino junkets. In one case, a campaign treasurer bought a Porsche and a BMW with his boss’s reelection funds.”
LOBBYING REFORM DEAD. Politico. “With no specific malfeasance in the headlines, the congressional appetite for the new rules is so low that even lawmakers who backed reforms in the past aren’t signing on this time, making good-government types grumble that only a salacious scandal — think the return of Jack Abramoff to Capitol Hill — can get their plan moving quickly.”
TODAY’S SOLYN-DRIP. The Hill. “The GOP attack at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing focused on emails they said showed the White House tried to rush a final decision on Solyndra’s financing so that Vice President Biden could announce approval of the loan guarantee at the September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s new factory.” Another report is here. The Times reports here: “Suspicions that the administration might have pushed the loan for political reasons have centered on the fact that a major investor in the company is a charitable foundation associated with George B. Kaiser, a billionaire from Tulsa, Okla., who raised $50,000 to $100,000 as a ‘bundler’ for President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.” The Post goes big-picture with a look at green jobs promises here.
SCHUMER STAFFER TO FIRM. Story here. “M. Jeff Hamond, who had worked on Capitol Hill for a decade, most recently as Schumer’s economic policy director, will work in Van Scoyoc’s tax practice, according to a release from the firm.”
DURKEE UPDATE. Here. “In all, Durkee had control of more than 400 bank accounts, according to the complaint filed Sept. 2 in federal court in Sacramento.”
DURKEE’S RECORD PRETTY CLEAN PER REPORT. Story here. “The longtime Democratic campaign treasurer who allegedly stole millions of dollars from her clients had a lengthy history of fines and investigations in California, but she had a relatively clean record on a federal level–a few unsuccessful complaints lodged against her but no fines reported on the FEC website.”
SECOND HEARING IN CALIFORNIA. Here. “The Fair Political Practices Commission is hearing the case against lobbyist Frank Molina for the second time next week because his lawyer missed the last hearing while serving jury duty.”
MURRAY HILL, INC. SPEAKS TO STARBUCKS CEO MOVE. Here. “It’s sad to see Starbucks behaving like a self-hating corporation, renouncing the power and influence that come attached to big fat campaign contributions. There is no need to apologize for the corporate way, or dilute the essential strength and vigor of unchecked corporate power.”
NAME OF ANOTHER ALLEGATION IN IOWA. Story here.
HAVE A GOOD DAY.